Career Trends

It's not what you physically look at that matters in life, it's what you see in it. This article was interesting to me in how it relates to the concepts in The Shift and The Flatteners. Both authors emphasize the need to stand out and be the best that you can be and this article explains how a person's perception (or a change in perception) can help attain this.

This is from the same websites as the "Importance of Technology in the Workplace", but it focuses on the negative impacts rather than the positive

This article shows how technology has improved various aspects of the workplace.

"For career skills, the focus is on performing well enough to produce a result that's meaningful to you. For personal skills and hobbies, the focus is on enjoying the process and having fun. In these instances, the "10,000 hour rule" and the idea of "mastery" can actually serve as barriers to sitting down to practice - if you believe it takes that long to see results, you're less likely to start in the first place. The real priority is to practice enough to get the results you're looking for, not to attain a certain level of status or competitive performance."

A global Randstad study found that a third of Canadians feel their jobs are threatened by advances in technology, and one in four believes the job they currently hold could vanish entirely if the trend continues. Advancements in technology have always threatened certain industries, and now is no different.

This also looks like a great site which is aimed at business professionals. This site covers how to create a good online presence for new/growing businesses.

Very interesting site, with many articles, videos and tutorials for people interested in running their own business.

This article looks at how Canada's economy is failing apart while highlighting that other countries like China are booming. It talks about things like people living beyond their means and a lack of business investment as well as other factors that are contributing to the economy problem. I thought this was a great article for this week since we are ending with Friedman and Stanford. Both of their thoughts can be applied to this article.

A self- assessment tool that assesses a person's strengths and areas for improvement in regards to continuous learning. Friedman emphasizes in chapters 8 and 9 the importance of continuous learning and ongoing education in order to reach career related goals and strive for self improvement.

The growth of hyperspecialization and new markets such as TopCoder, through which individuals can 'sell' their specialized talents, allow individuals to compete in an increasing "flat" world. Outsourcing if often thought of only in terms of wealthy developed world companies seeking cheaper labour from developing countries, however this article highlights that some outsourcing is done to increase the quality of work, not simply to decrease cost. In an increasing connected world, individuals can 'outsource' the parts of their job that they do not excel in, to other individuals who are specialized in it.